


so just call when you're around

by LailaLiquorice



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sleep Deprivation, anna loves her family so much, anne is an overtired bean, this is the softest thing i've written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 03:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19821790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LailaLiquorice/pseuds/LailaLiquorice
Summary: Anna likes to help her friends in quieter ways, and tonight it's a tired Anne who needs her helping hand.





	so just call when you're around

There were many reasons why Anna enjoyed having her bedroom on the ground floor of the house. It meant she was closer to the kitchen so there was less distance between her bed and the coffee pot for those mornings when she really didn’t want to wake up. It meant there was a whole floor of separation between her and the chaos of the other queens, who she all loved but could become a little much at times after being used to living mostly along at Richmond. It meant that she created less mess when she brought home one of the dogs she walked since she didn’t have to take them upstairs, something Jane was definitely grateful for.

But it also meant that she was on hand during the night whenever one of her friends was downstairs and in need of someone to be there for them.

The biggest culprit for late nights was Cathy, with her tendency to forget what bedtime meant when she got too engrossed in whatever she was researching. She tended to hole up in her bedroom-turned-study though so it was more often the others who she would encounter during the night. If Kat had had a bad day then Jane would often sit quietly in the living room after she’d gone to bed, and always appreciated Anna bringing her a mug of chamomile tea and lending her a shoulder to rest her weary head on. Days where Aragon’s anxiety got on top of her usually ended in her sat at the kitchen table with silent tears running down her face, and Anna’s non-coddling approach meant she usually felt able to talk out some of her worries.

For the two biggest mums of the group, it was essential for them to be able to let down their walls every once in a while, and Anna was more than happy to provide that for them. But every now and then it was Anne who ended up needing her help.

Anna had been trying to keep a close eye on her for the last few days, since she’d noticed dark smudges under her eyes at breakfast and less energy during the show. So it was no surprise when one night she counted only four sets of footsteps retiring upstairs for the night, and when she poked her head around the living room saw she was faced with the sight of Anne sprawled out asleep on the sofa with a thick book on her chest.

Her plan was that she would very carefully pick Anne up and carry her upstairs into bed, but that flew out the window very quickly when the book slid off Anne’s chest and hit the floor with a loud thud. Anne’s eyes flew open and she shot upwards into a sitting position, looking around frantically with wild eyes as she tried to work out what had woken her.

“Hey it’s just me,” Anna said quickly, watching Anne carefully when she turned to look at her. “You alright? You fell asleep.”

Anne was silent for a couple of seconds, rubbing her hand over her face. “Yeah, yeah ‘m fine,” she muttered, but her words were slurred and her eyelids blinked slowly. With sluggish hands she reached down to pick up her book, shifting to sit up properly as she asked “What’re you doing up?”

“Checking on you.”

“Huh?”

Anna sighed, sitting down beside Anne who watched her through wide eyes. “Babes, come on. You haven’t been sleeping well lately, we can all tell. So are you gonna tell me what’s up or are you gonna go to bed.” Her words were blunt but her voice still kind, aware that she was asking a lot of Anne by requesting she tell what was keeping her awake.

Shifting uncomfortably, Anne fiddled with the sleeve of her hoodie before she could face looking Anna in the eye. “Keep thinking too much when I try to sleep ‘nd it keeps me awake,” she mumbled quietly, to the point where Anna had to strain to pick out her individual words. “Thought if I made m’self really tired I’d just fall asleep ‘nd not have to think ‘n stuff.”

“Well I think you’ve succeeded in that hun,” Anna said with a smirk as Anne’s head nodded forwards for a second before she shot back upright again, blinking quickly to try and wake herself up. “You really should try to sleep.”

Anne shook her head fast, then squeezed her eyes shut and winced as she pressed a hand to her forehead. “’m not tired, my head just hurts,” she groaned.

“Because you’re tired, babes.”

“Am not.”

“Alright,” Anna said, admitting defeat when Anne pouted at her. “You just keep reading, I’m gonna sit here with you for a bit.”

Anne hummed in self-righteous agreement, opening her book back up and flicking to where she’d fallen asleep.

As Anna expected, hardly a minute went by before Anne’s eyes fell closed and her head dropped forwards again. This time Anna was there to catch her book before she could be woken up again, placing it down gently on the floor before she looked at Anne to assess how she was going to get her upstairs. Very carefully she put one arm under Anne’s knees, then snaked the other hand between her back and the sofa to lift her up bridal-style. After letting Anne’s head come to rest on her collar, Anne started very quietly up the stairs towards Anne’s bedroom.

She managed to lay her down with her head on the pillow before Anne woke up again, looking around blearily as she tried to compute the change in scenery. “Where’d we go?” she mumbled groggily, waving her hand around to try and grab Anna in the dark.

“Your room, I carried you up to bed,” Anna said, catching Anne’s hand and holding it tightly to reassure her that she was there.

“Oh, right,”

Anna grinned at her pitiful attempts to stay awake, even though her heart ached at how desperate she was not to fall asleep. “Come on, you gotta get some sleep.”

“Don’t want to,” Anne insisted weakly, but her eyelids were falling closed as much as she tried to keep them open.

Huffing quietly with laughter, Anna said gently “Yeah, you do. I’m not going anywhere for a while.”

That seemed to reassure her a little, for the tension in her shoulders melted away as she shifted into a more comfortable position. “Just don’t wanna think… think about…” she trailed off mid-sentence as her eyes closed and the hand holding Anna’s went slack.

Anna smiled fondly at how peaceful she looked now she was finally asleep, giving her hand a minute squeeze before placing it carefully atop Anne’s stomach. As carefully as she could muster she pulled the duvet up and tucked Anne in, watching her for a second to make sure there were no signs of her waking up but she seemed to have fallen into a very deep sleep. Without thinking about it she leaned down to press a light kiss to the top of her head, then crept out the room and pulled the door to behind her.

In the morning she would ask one of the other queens to enquire what had been troubling her so much, perhaps Aragon or Jane since they were the mothers of the group or Cathy since she was close to Anne. Her job was the nightshift, she let the more emotionally inclined queens look after people when morning came. But in the meantime, Anna was glad that there was still something she could do to look after the friends she loved so much.

**Author's Note:**

> Another prompt from another lovely anon asking for tired boleyn with cleves!!! 
> 
> Cleves doesn’t get enough love in fanfic and I know I’m guilty of neglecting her so I was very happy to remedy this. And the sixcord seemed pretty eager for soft Cleves content so I think its in high demand!! In my idea of the queens’ house she has the only room on the ground floor and I love the idea of her using that to keep an eye on her tired friends because she plays it cool but she loves them so much <3 Also if I’ve messed up Anne v Anna then don't @ me because they’re too similar and no beta reader we die like Henry
> 
> I'm lailaliquorice on tumblr :)


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